Big 4 Audit Senior/Manager (Copied from Another 71)

Questions for those who have been a Senior in Big 4 audit, or even mid-market firms (*please be as detailed as possible for example, how large were the bank recs you audited, how large were the spreadsheets you worked on*):

1. How many engagements have you managed at once?

2. What were your responsibilities on those engagements?

3. How many team members were you responsible for?

4. How did you usually code your time when you were helping a staff member?

5. What were the most important excel functions/tools that you must know?

6. Specifically, what was the most complex task you’ve encountered?

7. What methodology do you use to conduct research? (What site/tool/resource?)

8. How long on average does it take to make Manager and how did you accomplish it? (Based on seniority, did you move to another location, are you well-connected, etc?)

IndenturedServant

This seems like a lot of work to do for some random stranger on the internet. What exactly are you trying to get out of this?

DoubleHelix

Well, these are all the important questions that nobody is asking. Shouldn’t take anymore than 3-5 minutes. If this is a difficult task for someone then maybe I am really that advanced and shouldn’t have to worry when I make the move to Big 4.

I_LIHTC_ur_Mom

Yup I see no issues in your career advancement with that attitude ^^
You go to sleep at night praying that the people you work with have ZERO EQ huh? Or do you come off as WAY less arrogant and self-entitled in person?

DoubleHelix

How about focus on answering the question rather than derailing the topic, I wonder why that is such a difficult task? Also I’m sure with a username like “I licked your mom” is a great indicator of your personality and how well you are doing in your accounting career.

I_LIHTC_ur_Mom

Want to go do some actual due diligence and read the ’86 Reagan tax reform code (Hint: It is still in effect today) and try again on that one there bud?

boatz_n_hoez

I’m starting to doubt the big 4 even recruited you – if they did, I’m sure you’ll be counseled out as a first year due to the obvious personality disorder you have. No one enjoys working with a smart ass.

Since you don’t stand a chance of calling yourself a big 4 Auditor, I would apply for small firms. They seem to be more empathetic for people like you. In the application, make sure to bring up your passive agressiveness.

You’ve been talking about moving to Big 4 for months. Please do so and stop asking so many damn questions.

DoubleHelix

Why are people on this forum so miserable? If you don’t want to share knowledge/information, then why join and spread your toxicity? Apparently this is a forum for those distressed accountants who need a safe space to vent…rather than a forum to help accountants avoid the same mistakes you’ve made in your career that have made you so miserable.

How do I act like I have the world figured out if I’m the one here asking questions? That would imply I am asking questions to figure out the world, wouldn’t it?

And only to be met with nonsense and half-ass responses, that doesn’t help at all. I started my research about the Big 4 ahead of time before making the move so I don’t make the same mistakes those of you have made in your careers.

And it’s obvious you are not willing to share the details because you want other people to be as miserable and unsuccessful as you. Otherwise you would share well thought out responses instead of the half-ass nonsense that has been posted here.

D’Angelo

Big 4 experiences are going to vary tremendously between office, what type of clients you’re working on, region size. No combination of questions is going to prepare you for the exact experience. If you’re coming from another firm (especially a smaller one) there is going to be a lot of learning on the job and catching up to do. I went from a terrible mom and pop firm to a national firm. There was a lot of catching up to do. Nothing I could have asked or read about ahead of time would have prepared me for exactly what I’d be doing.

Anything someone on this forum can tell you is going to help you about 1/50 as much as actually working at a Big 4 firm.

IndenturedServant

You’re really that advanced. You should make the move to the Big4 ASAP.

IndenturedServant

In all seriousness, I’ll give you a piece of real advice as a former big4 manager. If you want to succeed at the experienced senior and manager levels, you need to be able to operate without handholding. That means being able to figure shit out on your own. You can’t get flustered when people don’t want to spoonfeed you a bunch of answers. I never threw a gigantic list of vague questions at any of the partners that I worked for and expected them to answer. Nobody has the time for that.

The fact that you responded with so much hostility to my question tells me you’re not comfortable with running an engagement on your own and are probably not ready to be a manager.

DoubleHelix

If you consider anything I’ve said to you to be hostile, I think that says more about you than myself. Sorry bud, if these are such basic questions then it can’t be that difficult to answer. Instead you and others have chose to unnecessarily antagonize and derail the topic. Step off your high horse and answer the question or move along with your sad life. Your toxicity isn’t doing anyone a favor, you should consider keeping it to yourself.

IndenturedServant

lol alright. gl to you.

boatz_n_hoez

This guy couldn’t even run a McDonald’s if he tried — much less an audit engagement. Passive aggressiveness is a serious issue, might I suggest counseling?

boatz_n_hoez

Isnt this “double helix” person the same guy who was asking if big 4 people have to clean up after themselves in the audit room? If so, stop wasting everyone’s time with your stupid questions.

DoubleHelix

I remember you, you are the autistic guy. You could always try scrolling past topics you’re not interested in. Not sure what compels you to comment if you have nothing to share.

boatz_n_hoez

I’m compelled to expose people who ask stupid questions —

DoubleHelix

Well, what is stupid about it? Seems to me you just don’t want to answer it because you don’t want to expose your lack of experience and would rather act like an internet badass because of how unhappy you are with your life and career.

Ex D&T

In one of your other topics you said you were exploring other options outside of big four that included manager and director roles. Why would you even be interested in being a Big 4 Senior if that were the case?

DoubleHelix

I am trying to get a better understanding of the “big firm” environment. As you can see, people are not willing to share information so it is difficult to assess the true skill required to satisfactorily perform in these positions. So how can one determine if they were a Manager in a smaller firm if they would be a capable Manager at a Big 4 firm?

The only thing I have read on the internet is that if you are coming from a smaller firm into a bigger firm then you should consider going into the bigger firm as a lower level position. So I am trying to learn why exactly that is the case yet no one is willing to share their knowledge/experience.

Which makes me increasingly more skeptical that bigger firm accountants aren’t nearly as experienced as they are supposed or claim to be.

Ex D&T

Going in at a lower position would be so you could learn the methodology first before you are in a higher level position (a senior from a smaller firm may go in as an experienced staff and have to wait a year to make senior). As far as the true skill to do these positions, I’d say its more putting up with the excessive workload than the difficulty of the work itself.

DoubleHelix

Okay, in that case it really can’t be that difficult to learn the methodology and workload wouldn’t be a problem in my opinion. Based on this response there doesn’t really seem to be anything for me to worry about.

The reason I ask about specifics (i.e. the methodology) is because I’ve reconciled bank accounts anywhere from 1-100+ transactions. I’m guessing reconciling Big 4 client bank accounts you could see accounts FAR larger than that.

Do Big 4 auditors import large bank recs into excel, for example, and search for material transactions that way? Or are they done manually for the most part? I am fine with either methodology, but these are the nature of the questions that will help paint a better picture and help prepare if needed.

Thank you for the first normal response by the way.

SFguy

Some clients provide them in excel, either way you send it to India for them to do. I’ve worked at a national firm and the B4 – it does take a little while to get the methodology down even if you are good at your job.

DoubleHelix

Thank you for the response SFguy. I keep hearing people refer to the methodologies. My purpose for asking the questions in the original post is to learn specifics about the methodologies.

Do you know where I can read up or learn more about it? For example, what portion of the audit is normally outsourced, etc. and how the various other procedures are typically carried out?

Unless it’s strictly “proprietary information”, surely there has to be a resource somewhere online for this.

SFguy

Any firm’s methodology is going to be proprietary info. The only way to really find out is work at one of those firms. Big4 outsources all the low level busy work – ticking and tying.

I_LIHTC_ur_Mom

You’re clearly new to GC, or as stated below (due to the obvious personality disorder you have), just completely oblivious, if you cannot ascertain that Going Concern and the comments (esteemed trolls and all) is a pinnacle embodiment of exactly what life in public accounting is.

I’d expect anyone who purports to make their living from auditing, should have MUCH better deductive reasoning, recognition of inherent bias, and inference skills than you have displayed… I can only surmise you watch the fake new at night and take it as dogma.

If you’re worried about being able to do a bank rec, you’re doomed. And if you think your B4 experience is going to magically be way different than everyone else’s because you asked about it on GC and prepared, you’re truly delusional.

DoubleHelix

What? You sure have a lot of assumptions and opinions. Maybe, just maybe, try answering the original question instead of spouting your useless vitriol. As you can see, your toxicity is quite pointless. If this is the embodiment of Big 4/public accounting culture, there’s a good chance your inability to ask the right questions, help your team members learn, and prepare yourself to get ahead is the reason why you’re so miserable. Sorry for your poor choices and lack of leadership.

I_LIHTC_ur_Mom

Why would anybody with a sane mind waste time to answer one of your MANY absolutely STUPID questions ( a staff with 1 year of experience should know these), only for your baseless ego to attempt to try to tell them that their real life experience/response was somehow wrong because of some article you read? (as you have done throughout this post ,and all your other wasted server space posts)

Bro the site is called Going Concern. I don’t know what else to tell you other than only “mistake” you keep referring to: was becoming a public accountant. That is after all… pretty much the gist of this all?

DoubleHelix

Lol okay, I see you are here for comedic relief to escape the qualms and shortcomings of your own life and career. No worries then, I will let you be.

I_LIHTC_ur_Mom

He’s slowly getting it… Says the guy who is here for career advice and has the audacity to ask if someone ELSE is suffering from a mental health disorder?!

(2nd mistake was looking on GC for career advice, that’s a bold move cotton)

DoubleHelix

Ok well here is a question for you that might make yourself useful.

Since you post on this site and expect it to be anonymous, do you realize that since the site is not secure, (HTTP vs HTTPS) makes it that much easier for someone to potentially track your browsing habits and learn your real identity? Very possible we’re not even on “Going Concern” and it could just be a phishing site.

Genuinely curious if this has crossed your mind and if so, what security protocols do you have on your devices to prevent your data and identity from being exposed?

IndenturedServant

lol did you just threaten to dox him?

Debit_Big4_Experience

Ho do you have a post talking about emotional intelligence in the big4 and then you get this angry on GC and start calling people autistic? It’s the internet, don’t let people get to you like that.

DoubleHelix

No one is angry, at least I’m not. Just reciprocating the lack of respect and uselessness of the responses and this entire forum apparently.

keepin_it_real

Okay I’ll be nice and play along from a former audit manager’s perspective.
1. Like 7 or 8 at once. I had that many teams in the field. It was such bullshit and part of the reason why I left.
2. Role was manager which basically meant dealing with partner bullshit, client bullshit, and staff bullshit.
3. Anywhere from just 1 senior to 3 seniors and 3 staff (there was another manager on this job so I was just secondary manager). At one point I had around 20-25 ppl working for my 7 or 8 engagements.
4. Firm admin. As a manager you don’t exceed budget unless you want to waste more time explaining to the partner why your shit staff went over budget. When the choice was eating hours or wasting more time at work for admin bullshit, I’d rather just eat the time and go home.
5. No idea.
6. Dealing with all the BS.
7. Used google and whatever research tool the firm has.
8. Took me 6 years since I went from midmarket senior to big 4 senior and lost a year. I made it because in big 4 everyone makes manager if you stick around long enough and aren’t an idiot.

DoubleHelix

Okay thanks for the response. 7-8 engagements at once, that is quite the accomplishment. I’m sure when/if you transition to industry, it will be a good talking point on the resume/interview.

I’m surprised at #4 about coding to admin. So does this basically mean if you code 15 minutes to helping a staff with their questions that you would normally stay an extra 15 minutes at the end of the day to maintain your chargeable goal?

keepin_it_real

Already transitioned from audit to accounting advisory service to industry. By the time I went to industry no one cared about having that many engagements. They wanted to know more about the AAS stuff I worked on.

No. The chargeable goal was another BS metric that I could never meet as a manager due to budget constraints. Chargeable hours is important for staff and seniors but not the be all end all goal. As you move up, it became less important. I never stayed late to meet the chargeable hours. I stayed late because of ridiculous deadlines, shit PBC’s, or shit workpapers from my team.

I remember working with a senior manager who would work about 80 hours a week during busy season but charged negative hours since the previous manager left the budget and audit in shambles. Partners didn’t say anything to him other than they can’t be that far behind budget when audit is done or another way of saying “eat your hours”.

Basis Adjustment

working for a small firm auditing mom and pop grocery stores is a lot different compared to being a big4 audit slave auditing SEC registered multinational grocery store chains. big4 firms pay for experience and a mom and pop grocery store engagement is not equivalent experience to a SEC registered multinational grocery store chain. if you want to make a lateral move to a bigger firm be prepared to provide evidence that you can handle the job. otherwise, take the lower level position and prove yourself that way, you seem to have the motivation to do so. also, the lower level position might even come with a pay bump compared to what the small firm pays.